Among the most prominent evils arising from the rapid depreciation of the paper was a spirit of speculation and fraud, which excited unfounded jealousies and suspicions. The
* Washington opposed the measure from the beginning as iniquitous, unjust, and fraught with the direst evils. He was a considerable loser by it. While at Morristown, a respectable man in the neighborhood was very assiduous in his attentions to the chief, and they were generally reciprocated. This man paid his debts in the depreciated currency, under the law, and the fact became known to Washington. Some time afterward the man called at head-quarters, but the general hardly noticed him. This coldness was observed by the officers, and La Fayette remarked, "General, this man seems much devoted to you, and yet you have scarcely noticed him." Washington replied, smiling, "I know I have not been cordial; I tried hard to be civil, and attempted to speak to him two or three times, but that Continental money stopped my mouth."
** Rev. Charles Inglis, who was rector of Trinity Church, in New York, from 1777 until 1782, and, after the peace, was made Lord Bishop of Nova Scotia, in a letter to Joseph Galloway, the great Pennsylvania Loyalist, then in London, thus writes, under date of December 12th, 1778, in reference to the immense issues and the depreciation of the bills of credit: "The fee simple of the thirteen United States is not equal to this sum, which is still increasing. I therefore think it utterly impossible to support the credit of this money; and were there nothing else, this would be sufficient to destroy the rebellion, if Britain would hold the places she now possesses, and keep a moderate number of cruisers on the coast. The mode of securing French debts, by which the colonies became mortgaged for the fripperies of every French peddler, is another embarrassing article on this head, which must prove ruinous to America."
* Daniel Coxe, a member of the king's council of New Jersey, and a refugee in New York, writing to Galloway, under date of February 14th, 1779, says, "The current depreciation of their money now at Philadelphia is fifteen for one; and the' there are clubs and private associations endeavoring to support its credit, nothing will do, nor can any thing, in my opinion, now save 'em on this point but a foreign loan, and which, though they affect otherwise, I think they can not negotiate any where in Europe, unless all the moneyed nations are turned fools; and if they can not command a loan, and are prevented from all remittances and trade southward, they must sink, never again, I hope, to rise......In short, they never were so wretched and near destruction as at this moment, and, unless some unforeseen event takes place in their favor soon, I firmly expect the next summer must end their independence and greatness.....For God's sake, then, encourage every degree of spirit and exertion all you can, and quickly; a good push, and they go to the wall infallibly." Such was the tenor of the letters sent to England by the Loyalists from 1778 until 1781. The financial embarrassments of Congress gave Loyalists and friends of government strong hopes that it would accomplish what British arms had failed to do. It may be here remarked that many of the letters which passed between the Loyalists here and their friends abroad were written in cipher, so that, should they fall into the hands of the patriots, they might not be read, to the disadvantage of the writers and their cause. I here give, for the gratification of the curious, an alphabetical key, and a fac-simile or two lines of the cipher writing, copied from one of the letters of a distinguished Tory, together with the interpretation.
